"gorehound" wrote in message
...
What type of wire should I use to make a 50 foot over head run from the
house to the garage? This will be a 50A 240V circuit from the main house
panel. Right now we have separate service from the electric company to the
garage with a separate meter (1 meter for the house 1 for the garage). The
electric company now wants to charge a 30 dollar per month service charge
for the garage. We can't afford that. To go below ground would we would
have to deal with a 4 foot across driveway and a gas line, that's why we
want to go overhead. Do we need 4 conductor wire that being 2 hots a
neutral and a ground? What about 3 conductor (2 hots and a neutral) and a
ground rod at garage panel? Do we need to enclose the wire in a pipe to
run up the house then leave it open till it reaches the garage then more
pipe down to the garage entrance?


*As RBM noted you will need to make two service entrances; one at each
building. You will not need a meter socket or disconnect outside since you
will have over current protection in each circuit breaker panel. For
overhead you can run multiplex wire which has the neutral as the support and
you would splice that at each end to the wire coming out of your service
head. You can use SE cable or conduit for the service entrance on each
building and you will need strong hooks to carry the weight of the overhead
wire. The overhead wire needs to be at least 12' high and cannot pass over
a pool. You will need 4 conductors and at least one ground rod at the
garage.